French banking group BNP Paribas said today it was buying United California Bank from Japan's UFJ Holdings for $2.4 billion in cash.
The deal would help strengthen UFJ's financial health and would expand BNP Paribas's activities in California, where it recently bought BancWest, whose operations are mainly in San Francisco and the north of the state.
After the acquisition, BNP Paribas, which looking to expand its presence in US retail banking, would control $31 billion of assets in the United States and serve 1.5 million customers from 370 branches.
Separately, BNP Paribas agreed to pay 155 billion Korean won ($121.1 million) for a 4 per cent stake in South Korea's Shinhan Financial Holding Co, making it the largest shareholder in the Korean financial group.
UCB will bring $8.8 billion of customer deposits and 117 branches in Los Angeles and elsewhere in southern California, making BNP Paribas the fourth-largest bank in that state.
It would also give the French bank a 3.3 per cent market share in deposits in the United States as a whole.